There has been an alarming increase in scareware over the last couple of years. Google, which in 2010 ascertained 15% of all malware to be of the scareware variety, has begun notifying search users about a new strain of malware, which is thought to have been delivered to around a couple million PCs hidden inside fake antivirus software. According to the company, the said malware “causes infected computers to send traffic to Google through a small number of intermediary servers called ‘proxies’”. Hit the jump for more.

Leading jobs portal Monster.com has warned its users against a fresh instance of private information theft, which happens to be the second such case in the past 18 months. The security breach has not only tarnished its security record further but also dealt a heavy blow to the trust that users have posited in it.

It issued the warning on its website, in what appears to be a less-frequented section, and opted against directly contacting the users. The company began its statement by downplaying the security breach: “as is the case with many companies that maintain large databases of information, Monster is the target of illegal attempts to access and extract information from its database.”

It claims to have taken the necessary “corrective steps” immediately after discovering the security breach. It has asked users to reset their passwords on their own, though they will eventually be forced to make the change. The company says that the exposed data includes user IDs and passwords, email addresses, names, phone numbers, and some basic demographic data. Resumes and sensitive data is said to be safe.

Monster.com has also advised users that they need to be more vigilant and watch out for specious emails claiming to be from the company.